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Hi, glad you came here. I really don't intend for this to become something big, it's just a little thing i've always wanted to do. I thought it would be a nice little place for me to write the thoughts about the dramas i watch so i not only forget em, but it makes it easier to tell other people waht i think about them. If there's a drama i haven't written about that you think I should, e-mail me about it and let me know, i'm always open to suggestions. Welcome and i hope you enjoy your visit here.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Seito Shokun


http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Seito_Shokun!


yes i just pulled a fast one on you all :P, this is not on my list of things to watch hehehehe, i just randomly stumbled across it and decided to watch it. Not a marathon like proposal daisakusen, but still kinda, since it took me 2 days to watch 10 episodes. I recognized 2 people right off the bat, one being Horikita maki <3~ from nobuta wo produce. kurosagi, and hanazakatari no kimitachi e (wow that's a long name) fame :). Another one i noticed which isn't AS well known is hongo kanata, from the prince of tennis live action movie (yes i'm a tennis junkie so i saw it :3). But let's get to the meaty stuff, the stuff yer prolly looking for in this post.
The plot is one that will be familiar to just about everyone with any asian media experience. We have here a new teacher, so energetic full of life and innocent to the point they are not affected by the beauraucracy of educators who look only for themselves, no these are teachers who believe wholly in the students and care deeply for them. But their first class is a problematic one, who openly show their lack of appreciation for their teacher, who is an adult, part of the larger group of teachers, and even adults, who they feel have betrayed their trust and thus deserve only their detest. Sound familiar? GTO? Gokusen 1-3? Exactly, this story sounds VERY MUCH like those. A teacher with a student body that hates them so much they attempt and even manage to inflict bodily harm and emotional and psychological tactics on them. However, the teacher rather than gives up like the students wish, keeps loving them all the same until her persistence wins them over in a glorious climactic moment that tugs at the heart of many. Yes this is another drama like that, which if it's yer first one like this, you will love, or if you like these sorts of stories same. However, there are people too who have seen both who will think, "oh another GTO/Gokusen story, been there, seen that, old news". And i admit, it's a story done before, not much different except the circumstances with which the students detest the teacher.
As always the teacher knows the hardships they face, whether it be a former delinquent themselves as in GTO, or the actual heir to a Yakuza clan like in Gokusen, or in this case, having gone through the pain of having your mother forget about you and focus on a sibling who is terminally ill.
The students' story is one to feel sympathy over. A quick summary, the students blindly trust their homeroom teacher, who agrees to take them on a mountain hiking trip. All goes well until the teacher loses his way. Teacher panics and rather than try to help his students in his panic, his survival instincts take over and he takes the food from every student and leaves them behind. So shocked are the students that they just sit there in disbelief at what just happened, their teacher who they trusted and had promised to protect them, had just left them to die. Even better, the teacher had told a rescue crew the wrong location to hide that fact, so when the rescue team found them 2 days later, they were at a different place and the rescue crew assumed they had wandered soemwhere else rather than stay put as the teacher had told them. Of course this teacher is the minister of education's son so he doesn't want the fact his son did that to get out, so he uses his power to squash the rumors and make teh students out to be in the wrong and thus protect his image and his family's. Now imagine, these are middle school kids who have just had their protector abandon them to die, sitting there on a remote mountain with no food or anything, believing they are going to die, sitting there for 2 days, imagine the psychological trauma of that. Then even better when they are saved, they are not believed and teh facts are changed so they are in the wrong. These are middle school kids, it is hard to imagine why they have lost faith in the system, because it was that very system that betrayed them.
This is definately a stronger story than in GTO or Gokusen. In GTO, it was simply a student teacher relationship that was hidden, in Gokusen they were gangster-ish to begin with and the teachers resorted to punishment rather than listen to their side of the story, but in here, we have a genuine detest that is shared by many, this is a much better, at least i think, "hatred excuse" for the students to latch onto, because it is one that all of them have shared together and builds a stronger comraderie than the other two stores could muster. However, if it just stopped there, the story wouldn't be the one that i jsut finished, no there's more behind it ,especially behind the leader of 3TD, a student organization formed from taht class that takes care of any problems the class needs. She has her own personal demons that must be taken care of, and many of the students requre that as well. But their teacher is the amazing character, blindly believing them to the point they give in and realize this teacher is for them and will keep her promises or die trying.
the cast was well recognized, having Horikita maki, as shallow as it sounds, really helps bring interest to this drama, along with other cast members like Hongo Kanata and Uehara Misa (nodame cantabile, attention please). Musically, i didn't really get into the songs, except of course the insert/ending song My Generation by YUI <3~ (yes YUI is <3 also hehe)
It's another GTO/Gokusen story, but that still doesn't make it any less good, even if you have watched the others, give this one a try

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi again,
Nice review again! I must say I have been looking around for quality drama reviews but have had a hard time searching around.

I haven't watched Seito Shokun, but am seriously considering it for one sole reason only: Horikita Maki!
So I was laughing when you wrote:
"the cast was well recognized, having Horikita maki, as shallow as it sounds, really helps bring interest to this drama".
Are you kidding? - it's the only reason I watch it :)

I think she's the actress that appeals to me the most in the world. She doesn't use her sexy images to sell, she certainly does have a super pretty face but her gentle character and expressions just steal my heart.

anyway - your review gave me hope. The general reviews have been quite poor. But your review assured me to give this a go :)

Thanks! Good one!